Mommy
By Jeanne Fiedler
An Animal Rights Poem from All-Creatures.org

Mommy was a tabby stray
Always a litter on the way
twelve to fourteen people say
Cute little kittens that were all OK

We tried and tried to get her spayed
She watched her babies everyday
They found homes in every May
Then she watched them go away

She was too smart to be trapped
We always fed her good cat scraps
Afraid some raccoon would kidnap
and catch her in some fierce death trap

Still she had litters and litters again
Again and again - at least ten
She was weak and couldn't nurse
Her pregnancies were such a curse

Then one day she came inside
In the closet she did hide
We picked her up and she cried
We took her to the Vet but she died

An animal finally got hold of her
Grabbed her by her scanty fur
In fighting she was such an amateur
Soft and sweet and so demure

I wished we could have adopted her
And in our laps she would purr
The winters she just couldn't endure
The pregnancies would always recur

Mommy gave the world her babies
Never gave anyone rabies
She suffered for them all her life
Til she eventually died under the knife